WHO WOULD WIN?

WHO WOULD WIN?

I saw a YouTube clip today where a python was fighting with a cobra on a street in India.  The python was wrapped around the cobra, but the cobra got in a bite.  They were pulled apart, and the cobra went to a zoo and the python was released in the wild where it’s survival after a cobra bite was seriously in question.

This clip reminded of an old TV show "Animal Face-Off" on Animal Planet which fictitiously pitted two animals against each other and speculated on which animal would survive.  I think in real life, often both animals lose.  In the case of the snakes, if not pulled apart, the python would probably have choked the cobra to death and then later also died from the poison.

Survival in real life is tough.  It is why predators look for easy prey.  They look for the sick, the slow or the newly born.  The strongest lion can be brought down by infection from the smallest scratch inflicted in taking down dinner.

Anyway.

As a result of this show, my youngest son who was about eight would constantly ask, “Who would win?”

“Who would win a crocodile or a bear?”

“Who would win an eagle or a raccoon?”

Who would win a great white shark or an electric eel?”

Then we would argue for one animal or the other.  Usually it came down to venue.

“If the crocodile was stranded in the forest, the bear would easily kill it.  If they met up when the bear was crossing a river the bear would be toast.” 

“If the eagle surprised the raccoon out in the open it would probably win.  If the raccoon got a good shot in to the eagle’s wing, the raccoon would kill the grounded bird.” 

The shark and the eel?  “Would the shark bite cut the eels circuit?  If not they would probably both die.”

I was planning to make a point with this post, skillfully applying it to politics, or economics, or sports and making some great intellectual statement, but…I got nothing.

I do miss that “Who would win” game with my eight year old who is now seventeen.

Lazy, For Lack of a Better Word, is Good! - a cranky re-run

Lazy, For Lack of a Better Word, is Good!

This cranky re-run is from September 2014
For Labor Day

A fellow blogger, Arkansas Patti http://thenewsixty.blogspot.com/, recently admitted in a comment to being lazy.  She was unapologetic about being lazy; in fact she felt the world needs more lazy people.  I have admitted many times to myself being a lazy person.  In the past I have been ashamed of being lazy.  Arkansas Patti has made me reevaluate that position.

Lazy people do not start wars.  If more world leaders were lazy we would have no wars.  Throughout history, those damn energetic people who want to do stuff and control things have started wars and created havoc. 

A lazy Adolph Hitler for instance would still have hated Jews, but he would have been too lazy to act on his hate.  

If Christians of medieval times were lazier, there would have never been The Crusades.  They would have just left a few flyers on Muslim doors, “Hey, give Christ a try…or not.”

Energetic people don’t invent things, lazy people do.  Energetic people move heavy stuff by pushing like hell.  A lazy person invented the wheel; he was too lazy to push like hell. 

Energetic people were perfectly happy to travel many miles to deliver a message.  Alexander Bell, that lazy bastard, invented the telephone to save time and energy.

I am proud to be lazy.  I am easy to please.  I don’t need much, just food and sleep.  I don’t cause trouble, I don’t speed on the highway, I don’t make a lot of noise, I don’t complain.  All that stuff requires effort.  I don’t put much effort into anything.  I’m lazy.

If everyone was lazy, we would all do only what was required to survive. Plant some food, build a shack, eat, sleep, and procreate.  There would be no reason to accumulate stuff, no need to keep up with the Joneses, hell, the Joneses are lazy too.

Gordon Gecko in the movie "Wall Street" said "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good."  Gordon Gecko was wrong.  Greed is bad.  Greed takes energy and work and causes subversive behavior.

Lazy, for lack of a better word, is good.

DISAPPOINTED

DISAPPOINTED

a cranky opinion for

CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY

The following is the opinion of a cranky old man with no facts to back up his assertions.  Opposing opinions are welcome, but please be nice.  Mean spirited comments will only be deleted.  As always, please, no name calling, and that means you, you big stupid-head.

I was not a supporter of Barack Obama in 2008.  I didn’t think he had the experience as a politician or as an executive.  I did not think he would be good for the economy, and I thought he would be weak on the international front.  All these things plus he is a liberal Democrat and I have always favored a more conservative approach to the economy, and while I tend to be more liberal on social issues, I am probably not as liberal as our President.

The one thing I did think we would gain as a country with Mr. Obama as our President was improved race relations throughout the country.  I thought a successful black man who earned his position without any special treatment or advantages would set a tone within the black community that biases and discrimination do not have to be a roadblock to success. 

I thought that a strong black leader in the White House would be a positive influence in the black community when leadership and a positive influence were needed.

I thought a strong black leader in the White House would help dispel racial prejudices in the white communities.

I thought a strong black leader in the White House would help to heal racial wounds and unite our country.

I thought wrong. 

It seems to me that racial problems in this country have been exacerbated, not mitigated since Mr. Obama took office.  When there have been incidences of white injustice against blacks, the President has been more inflammatory than calming.  When there have been black injustices against whites, the executive office has been silent.  The uniter many of us hoped for has been more of a divider. 

We have been more divided racially, more divided economically, more divided politically.

The poor hate the rich even more than they did in 2007.  Blacks and whites are more fearful of each other than they were in 2007.  Democrats hate Republicans even more than they did in 2007.  Republicans hate Democrats even more than they did in 2007.

People talk, but no one listens.  Minds are made up, and hatred is solidified. The country has never been more polarized at so many levels.  This can only be blamed on a lack of leadership.

Perhaps healthcare (Obamacare) will prove to be hugely successful. Perhaps Iran will lose their nuclear desires, and maybe the Middle East will settle down. Maybe the economy will reach full employment and the gap between the wealthy and the middle class will shrink.  All that would be wonderful, except if the country is more polarized than ever, we will still be worse off.  Hatred and polarization is more destructive than any of the societal ills the current administration has set out to cure.

Many people voted for Mr. Obama to show the world that we can rise above racial differences and because they thought a highly educated well spoken black man who was not born to privilege would provide the leadership we need to end the divisiveness that has been a dark cloud over the country for 150 years.

I might be wrong; maybe things aren’t really worse than they were before 2008.  I guess cops shooting blacks isn’t new, and blacks ambushing cops isn’t new.  I have been called horrible names by liberals when I declare myself to be a Republican, and I know Democrats are not treated much better by many conservatives, but that isn’t new either.

Maybe hatred, distrust and divisiveness in this country is no worse than before 2008; but it certainly is no better, and for that I am disappointed.

The preceding was the opinion of a cranky old man and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky.